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Machines may take more jobs as a result of rises in the minimum wage, a respected economic think tank has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said that “extremely careful” monitoring of the minimum wage rate is required as employers look to cut costs and automatise aspects of business.

For employees aged 25 and over the minimum wage is currently £7.50 and will rise further to £7.83 in April.

The rate is planned to reach 60% of median wages in 2020 – which, under current forecasts of wage growth, would be £8.56.

Those set to be brought within the minimum wage net in 2020 are more than twice as likely to be in the 10% most “routine” occupations – such as retail cashiers and receptionists – as those who were directly affected by the minimum wage in 2015.

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This kind of work tends to be easier to “automate”, according to the IFS.

Agnes Norris Keiller, a research economist at the IFS and an author of the new research, said: “The fact that there seemed to be a negligible employment impact of a minimum at £6.70 per hour – the 2015 rate – does not mean that the same will be true of the rate of over £8.50 per hour that is set to apply in 2020.

“Beyond some point, a higher minimum must start affecting employment, and we do not know where that point is.

“The fact that the higher minimum will increasingly affect jobs that appear to be more automatable is an additional reason why extremely careful monitoring is required.

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Research in the US has found some negative impacts of higher minimum wages on the employment of low-skilled people in automatable occupations, while also finding evidence of concurrent employment gains among other groups.

A Government spokesman said: “The National Living Wage is creating a stronger economy and a fairer society, having delivered the fastest pay rise for the lowest earners in 20 years.

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Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey said: “Technological change, if harnessed effectively, could bring about immense benefits – transforming jobs and workplaces and driving up productivity and living standards.

“All workers should be paid a full and fair wage, which is why Labour has pledged to introduce a Real Living Wage of at least £10 an hour by 2020, as well as support for smaller businesses to pay it.

“Labour will invest in our country’s future, new technologies, our businesses, our infrastructure and people. Higher wages, good jobs, greater investment in skills and technology to boost productivity and high employment all goes together. They are complements, not trade-offs.”